But not long after she had become a mother she sank into the position of a household drudge and beast of burden.

For example, amongst the Beaver Indians, an Athapaskan tribe of the far north-west, it is related by Alexander Mackenzie that the women are permanently crippled and injured in physique by the hardships they have to undergo.

"Having few dogs for transport in that country, the women alone perform that labour which is allotted to beasts of burden in other countries.

It is not uncommon whilst the men carry nothing but a gun, that their wives and daughters follow with such weighty burdens that if they lay them down they cannot replace them; nor will the men deign to perform the service of hoisting them on to their backs.

So that during their journeys they are frequently obliged to lean against a tree for a small degree of temporary relief.